Charitable Events

Every year, the school has been involved in many charity programs to give back to the community.These are opportunities for our students to model and develop character and practice global citizenship. These events are successful because of our many parent/family, teacher, student, and community volunteers.

Art Charity ProgramThe SMIC Private School has organized the Art Charity Program since 2004. The exhibition showcases our students’ art work while connecting proceeds to community service. All proceeds (beyond expenses) are used to help disadvantaged children and to show our love for those children during the holiday season. For this event, our student creativity is displayed through their art work, which is available for purchase for the school community. The event also raises donations through auction events to help the disadvantaged children. At the same time, students have the opportunity to participate in live performances, or to serve as volunteers, while learning about the spirit of giving as part of developing good moral character.

Giving TreeThe Giving Tree program, which is city-wide with dozens of schools and organizations contributing, has supported over 80,000 children since 2003 and is poised to give over 10,000 more children and teachers bags with school supplies, winter clothing, and a gift annually. Recipients are migrant school students and teachers in Shanghai and nearby provinces. They have access to limited educational resources, schools with large class sizes, and whose families often struggle to meet basic needs. The goal of the program is to inspire recipients to pay it forward.

Giving Tree provides SMIC with empty bags, information on each recipient (age, height, favorite color, preferred gift/toy), and arranges a ceremony where our students and our staff distribute the bags at the school. The SMIC Giving Tree Team and the MHS Community Service Club go to the school to hand out the bags and meet the children.

Each Spring, SMIC hosts World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine in the SMIC school gym. While fasting, students solicit sponsors who give donations, to help Africans who face lack of food. Around 200 hungry (but willing!) SMIC students and staff gather together to enjoy a great night of fun, fasting, and, at the end of the night, feasting. Through the night, students learn about the often overlooked issue of hunger in Africa through a series of games, stations, and videos. Each students, SMIC students are challenged to participate in record breaking fundraising and commit to "Go hungry to help hungry kids!"

Environmental Club Planting for the Million Tree Project in Inner Mongolia

SMIC Students from the Environmental Club helped to raise about 100,000 RMB and headed to Inner Mongolia from March 31st to April 3rd with the Shanghai Roots and Shoots organization to assist with the Million Tree Project.This project involves planting a shelter belt forest across Inner Mongolia to help stop and reverse the spread of deserts into valuable agricultural lands.

This trip gives students the chance to see the environmental effects of desertification first hand and to physically take part in doing something about the problem. It’s one thing to learn about these issues in school but the chance to physically be there and do something to make the world a better place is a rare opportunity that will leave a lasting impression with our students.

The students are practicing ESLR’s through this project. They are learning to be healthy individuals by assisting with an environmental cause to protect public health in general. In addition during the trip they are outside doing physical activity in an area with clean air and a healthy environment. The students are becoming persons of character by helping to raise funds for and assist with a good cause that benefits society as a whole. As Global Citizens the students are tackling serious real world environmental issues that affect the planet as a whole. Many of the students who attended are also in the AP Environmental Science class and hopefully getting the opportunity to witness first hand many of the issues that we talk about in class helped to make them motivated learners.